The Community Board 3 (CB3) Transportation, Public Safety, Sanitation & Environment Committee met on Tuesday, February 8th to consider a proposal by the NYC Department of Transportation (DoT)  to modify some street directions; ­essentially to create “No Right Turn” from westbound Grand Street onto Clinton, rather having the Grand Street traffic go two more blocks to Norfolk, to turn right to go to Delancey.

 The Traffic Working Group organized opposition to the DoT proposal for several reasons:

1. The DoT was seeking to increase the number of cars going through the neighborhood on Grand Street by 13%;
2. The DoT plan would only slow the westbound M14A bus by keeping it in Williamsburg Bridge traffic for two more blocks;
3. The DoT plan ignored other problem intersections like Madison & Grand and East Broadway & Clinton;
4. The DoT plan did not address Local Law 195 which requires more pedestrian space and an emphasis on pedestrian and cyclist safety;
5. The DoT plan did not include any enforcement measures either for moving violations or for illegal parking, and had not consulted the NYPD on the plan.

Multiple members of the Traffic Working Group (TWG) attended the committee’s meeting by Zoom to express opposition. Michelle Kuppersmith and Lee Berman are on the committee, and they, along with other TWG and GSD members, provided persuasive arguments and video evidence to convince the committee to vote unanimously on NOT endorsing the DoT plan. The committee’s resolutions were:

• Resolved: Community Board 3 does not support in full DOT plans to mitigate traffic and safety at and near the intersection of Grand Street at Clinton Street as detailed above, especially plans to widen Norfolk Street; and
• Resolved: Community Board 3 requests that DOT return expediently with a comprehensive plan that includes traffic re-design and public space study for the area to mitigate traffic and safety that centers residents, pedestrians, and cyclists and does not increase the volume of cars traveling through the neighborhood and includes information about how traffic will be re-distributed around the neighborhood between East Houston Street and South Street.
• Resolved: in addition to DOT’s proposal to increase the number of Jersey barriers protecting the existing Clinton Street bike lane between Grand Street and Delancey Street, Community Board 3 also supports fully protecting the Clinton Street bike lane between South Street and East Houston Street from incursions by vehicles with physical controls that may include: Jersey barriers, static (not plastic) bollards, and/or raising the bike lanes above the street grade.

This is definitely a win for our side, but the full Community Board 3 will have to approve these resolutions, so SAVE THE DATE and come to the CB3 meeting on Tuesday, February 22 to support bringing traffic sanity back to the neighborhood. We’ll provide the meeting details in next week’s newsletter.